Transforming into a stunningly beautiful fox spirit, leaving a scar on the heart of a prodigy.

Deep inside the cave, it was dark and without light.

Only in the center of the blood pool that had just exploded did a faint, dark red light remain.

The light wasn't dazzling, but it carried a vibrant life force, climbing upwards along the soles of the faceless man's feet.

The faceless man, who had been as lifeless as a withered tree, began to tremble violently.

The pale skin covering his face, devoid of features, was like paper scorched by fire, cracking and peeling off inch by inch.

What is exposed is newborn flesh and blood.

Gu Xiang gripped the sword tightly, his righteous energy surging in his palm, ready to unleash a fatal blow at any moment.

Su Qing narrowed her long, narrow fox-like eyes, and the primal fire at her fingertips danced more and more joyfully, reflecting the vigilance in her eyes.

"take it easy."

Li Qingge sat on a rock to the side, swinging her legs, and playing with a dry bone she had picked up from somewhere.

"Dad is 'coming back to life'. It's normal for him to twitch when he's gaining weight and it's a little itchy."

Her tone was relaxed, as if what was happening before her eyes was not some bizarre zombie transformation, but rather the neighbor's uncle stretching.

As the last piece of dough landed, the person's true face was finally revealed to the two of them.

It was an extremely refined face.

His eyebrows resembled distant mountains, and his eyes shone like bright stars; even with his eyes closed, one could still discern a scholarly air about him.

His face was just too pale, with a gloomy look that suggested he had never seen the light of day.

What's most shocking is the area on his chest.

The clothes there were already torn, and on the exposed chest, there was a hole the size of a fist.

It is translucent from front to back.

It was empty inside; there was no heart.

Gu Xiang looked at that face and her heart skipped a beat.

It's not fear.

Rather, it was an indescribable sense of familiarity.

It's like looking in a mirror and seeing yourself decades from now.

Even more bizarrely, the exquisite heart in Gu Xiang's chest began to beat wildly at this moment.

Boom!Boom!Boom!

The sound was so loud that it echoed through the silent cave, making Gu Xiang's eardrums ache.

It is cheering.

They were overjoyed.

It was as if a traveler who had left home had met a long-lost friend.

Gu Xiang groaned, pressed his hand to his chest, and his expression changed slightly.

Su Qing noticed Gu Xiang's unusual behavior and flashed to stand in front of Gu Xiang.

Her red robes fluttered in the wind, and the nine-tailed phantom behind her instantly solidified, letting out a silent roar at the man whose face had just grown.

"Old man, watch your breathing."

Su Qing said coldly, "This heart now belongs to Gu, not Bi."

The man slowly opened his eyes.

His pupils were gray, as if shrouded in a layer of lingering mist.

He ignored Su Qing's threat and didn't even look at Li Qingge, who was making faces at him.

His gaze passed over Su Qing's shoulder and landed directly on Gu Xiang's chest.

There, lie his most precious possessions.

"Three hundred years have passed..."

The man's voice was hoarse, like two rough whetstones rubbing together.

He raised his hand, as if to touch that heart, but halfway there, he let it fall limply.

"Is it... alright?"

That's a completely nonsensical question.

But Gu Xiang understood.

He was questioning his own heart, and also questioning people.

Gu Xiang took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing the agitation in his heart. He circulated his righteous energy throughout his body, suppressing the inexplicable palpitation.

"It's good."

Gu Xiang said in a deep voice, "It can run, jump, curse, and fight, which is much better than the one in your chest."

The man paused for a moment.

Then, a very faint smile appeared on his pale face.

"That's good."

He turned his head again and looked in the direction of the capital.

Even through thick layers of rock, across hundreds of miles, his gaze seemed to penetrate everything, reaching the towering Star-Picking Tower.

"And what about her?"

The man asked softly, "How is the little fox... who always liked to sit on the windowsill and look at the moon?"

Su Qing's eyelid twitched.

Of course she knew who he was asking.

That foolish woman who lived as a widow for three hundred years for this man, turning herself into the totem of the Great Zhou Dynasty.

That is, the current Grand Preceptor of the Great Zhou Dynasty.

"He won't die."

Su Qing said irritably, "He's just a bit old and has a bad temper. He wears a bronze mask all day long, acting like a creditor who owes someone eight million taels of silver."

The light in the man's eyes dimmed slightly.

He lowered his head, looking at the empty hole in his chest, his fingers gently tracing the scar along the edge.

"It's my fault... I'm sorry to her."

"Back then I said I'd be right back, but that trip lasted three hundred years."

"Leaving her alone to guard that empty city, to keep that promise... I broke my word."

The man's voice was filled with self-blame and bitterness.

The intense, overwhelming sorrow seemed to lower the temperature of the entire cave.

Gu Xiang looked at him, feeling a little uneasy.

Although they had never met, he had heard Su Qing talk about what happened back then.

This scholar named Bhikkhu, in order to save the little fox and the people of the Great Zhou, voluntarily offered his heart as a sacrifice, turning himself into the key to unlock the great formation.

He is a hero.

He's a complete idiot.

"Alright."

Su Qing couldn't stand this melancholic and sentimental tone.

She waved her sleeve, interrupting the man's confession.

"If you want to cry at a grave, go cry there. Don't be disgusting here."

Su Qing took a step forward, the primordial fire crackling at her fingertips.

"Monk, I don't care if you're dead or alive, or how many years you've been hiding in this godforsaken place."

"I'll just ask you one question."

Su Qing pointed at Li Qingge, who was watching the scene unfold, and asked, "Why did you use the substance inside this girl to lure us here?"

"With your imperial dragon aura and that deathly smell, what exactly are you trying to do?"

Li Qingge was displeased upon hearing this.

She jumped off the rock and dusted herself off.

"Sister Su, how can you talk like that?"

Li Qingge, hands on her hips, said angrily, "What do you mean by 'the thing inside this girl'? I'm a person! A living, breathing person! Not some thing!"

"Besides, if my father hadn't used my body to guide you, would you have been able to find this place?"

"This Ghost Cry Valley is a deadly place. Without my father's guidance, you would have been turned into idiots by the evil energy outside long ago."

Su Qing glared at her: "Shut up. Adults are talking, kids shouldn't interrupt."

Li Qingge pouted, hid behind the monk, and made a face at Su Qing.

The monk reached out and gently patted Li Qingge's head.

His movements were gentle, as if he were comforting his own daughter.

"Her name is Qingge?"

The monk asked, "A good name. A clear song, a prosperous and peaceful world."

"Don't change the subject."

Su Qing wasn't buying it. "Let's get down to business."

The monk sighed.

He withdrew his hand, his gaze sweeping back and forth between Gu Xiang and Su Qing.

That look in his eyes was strange.

It's like looking at a junior, and also like looking at your former self.

After a long silence, he slowly opened his mouth and recited a line of poetry.

"The flowers fall helplessly, but the swallows return as if we've met before."

Gu Xiang frowned slightly.

"What do you mean?" Gu Xiang asked.

The monk did not answer directly.

He pointed at Gu Xiang, then at Su Qing.

"Three hundred years ago, I was a scholar, and she was a fox."

"Back then, I was just like you, thinking that I could reason with the world just because I had read a few books of sages."

"I feel the same way you do; I believe that as long as two people are together, even if the sky falls, they can withstand it."

The monk's lips curled into a self-deprecating smile.

"But then, the sky really did fall."

"I just realized that my reasoning is nothing but a fart in the eyes of those high and mighty immortals."

"If they want your heart, you have to give it. If they want your life, you have to die."

"I refuse to accept this."

The monk's voice suddenly rose a few decibels, and the gray mist in his eyes churned violently.

"So I took out my heart, but I left my soul behind."

"I buried myself in this extremely yin place in Ghost Cry Valley, and with the help of the earth's evil energy, I have been barely surviving for three hundred years."

"I'm waiting."

"Waiting for a variable."

The monk looked at Gu Xiang with intense gaze.

"Now, a change has occurred."

Gu Xiang subconsciously tightened his grip on Su Qing's hand.

He could sense that the monk's words had a hidden meaning.

This "variable" refers not only to him, but also to Su Qing, who was brought back from the dead.

"What do you want us to do?" Gu Xiang asked in a deep voice.

The monk shook his head.

"It's not about what I want you to do, but what you must do."

He turned around and walked towards a stone wall deep inside the cave.

The stone wall was covered with densely packed runes.

The runes were ancient and obscure, exuding an aura of vicissitude.

The monk stretched out his hand and placed it on the stone wall.

hum-

The stone wall trembled, and the runes on it lit up with golden light.

A huge pattern slowly appeared on the stone wall.

That was a tree.

A gigantic sycamore tree.

The tree canopy blocks out the sun, and its roots penetrate deep into the ground, connecting it to the mountains and rivers of the Great Zhou Dynasty.

And deep within those tree roots, something seemed to be suppressed.

"Miss Su."

The monk turned his head and looked at Su Qing.

"You've stayed at Luofeng Slope for so long, that old sycamore tree has raised you like its own daughter."

"Do you know the origin of that sycamore tree?"

Su Qing was taken aback.

She really didn't know.

All she knew was that it was the place where the phoenix had fallen, and that the tree contained the phoenix's essence and blood, which was why it was so close to her, a fox who had merged with the phoenix's true fire.

"Isn't it just an old tree that's become a spirit?" Su Qing frowned. "What other origin could it have? Could it have been planted by some great emperor?"

The monk smiled.

His laughter was tinged with sadness.

"It is not a tree."

The monk pointed to the patterns on the stone wall and said, word by word.

"It's a coffin."

"A coffin that buries the two Phoenix Emperors and the destiny of the Great Zhou Dynasty."

Su Qing's pupils suddenly contracted.

Gu Xiang was also deeply shocked.

coffin?

That vibrant, sacred tree that sheltered Su Qing and the surrounding hundred miles of Luofeng Slope was actually a coffin?

"Huanxi Sha: Old Dreams"

Years have passed since we parted, my temples are now frosted with gray, my withered soul and bones remain, guarding this desolate place.

A blood-stained hole in my heart recalls her beautiful makeup.

Swallows return to their old nests, and fallen paulownia leaves conceal the vicissitudes of life.

Where in this world can I confide my deepest feelings?